G-d will rebuild Jerusalem, and gather the scattered of Israel. He will heal those of broken heart says Psalms (147:2-3). This verse is speaking of the Redemption, and on the basis of this and other sources one can suggest that the main focus of the Redemption is the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
The word Jerusalem in Hebrew signifies ‘complete Awe’. We went into Exile because of our sins, in particular, because of a deficiency in our awe of the Divine. Hence the Redemption will come about through putting right this deficiency, and this means the true rebuilding of Jerusalem ‘complete Awe’.
When the Second Temple was built the Prophet Hagai declared ‘this Later Temple will be greater in glory than the First’. In spiritual terms, the root of the First and Second Temples is the two letters Heh in the Tetragrammaton. The First Temple is from the upper (first) Heh, signifying Binah, Understanding, and the Second Temple from the second Heh, signifying Malchut, Kingship.
Hence the Divine revelation in the First Temple was from the bond of the Yud and the Heh, in the upper part of the Divine Name, and the revelation in the Second Temple was from the bond of the Vav and the Heh in the lower part of the Name.
Personal Service and the Temples
In personal terms for the individual, this means service with the Mind, Yud and Heh (often explained as Wisdom and Understanding), as the First Temple; and service with Torah study, carrying out Mitzvot, Speech and Action, Vav and Heh, the Second Temple.
The Sages tell us the Second Temple lacked five things which were in the First Temple. Despite this, they echo Hagai’s prophecy that the Second Temple was actually greater than the First, in its size and the time it existed.
The Second Temple was also greater in spiritual terms, because ‘a person prefers one measure by his own effort rather than nine measures from someone else’. The First Temple was built by Solomon, at a time when G-dliness was openly revealed, and when the Jewish people could be considered Tzaddikim, righteous. By contrast the Second Temple came after the destruction of the First, when the Jewish people were Repentants. The power of the Repentant is that his or her service is from his own power, because, having been in a negative situation of transgression, he feels a great thirst for holiness, and therefore the thrust of the Repentant towards the good is with greater power than that of the righteous who have never sinned.
Hence when one considers the lack of the two Temples, the lack of the Second Temple which means lack of basic practical observance of Jewish law is a greater loss than the lack of the First Temple, which is the less significant service of the Mind. Hence the Sages tell us that G-d swears He will not enter the Upper Jerusalem (the flow into the upper Heh of the Tetragrammaton, the First Temple) before He first enters the Lower Jerusalem (the flow into the second Heh, the Second Temple).
This links with what was said above concerning the lack of Awe. The service of the Mind, relating to the First Temple, is described as a service of ‘delight’, of Love. But the service of practical action of the Mitzvot is a service of kabbalat ‘ol, acceptance of the Yoke of Heaven, which is generally characterized by Awe.
The Third Temple and the Higher Tetragrammaton
Another explanation of Hagai’s words ‘this Later Temple will be greater in glory than the First’ is that he is referring not to the Second Temple but to the Third Temple, which will be built with the coming of Moshiach. The two letters Heh of the Tetragrammaton which infused the first two Temples with holiness are from the Lower Tetragrammaton. But the Third Temple will be from an entirely higher level, the Higher Tetragrammaton, which is beyond the downchaining of the worlds.
G-d told Moses that the force of His Name the Tetragrammaton was not revealed to the Patriarchs but it was revealed at the Giving of the Torah. However even then it was the Lower Tetragrammaton. The two Temples also expressed the Lower Tetragrammaton. But with the coming of Moshiach and the building of the Third Temple, the Higher Tetragrammaton will be revealed.
And this is what is referred to in the verse ‘G-d will rebuild Jerusalem’ – meaning the Higher Tetragrammaton, and the Third Temple.
Healing the Broken Heart
Then G-d will also ‘heal those of broken heart’, as the verse in Psalms continues. This means the people who are yearning for the revelation of Moshiach, who feel ‘ill’ because of the Exile. The Hebrew word for ill, Choleh חולה has the numerical value 49, signifying that the person has reached the forty nine Gates of Understanding, but not the Fiftieth. This makes the person feel ill with yearning, and this is the broken heart.
But with the coming of Moshiach their hearts will be healed, for the fiftieth Gate of Understanding will be revealed, and G-d Himself, the Higher Tetragrammaton, will comfort the Jewish people with the building of the Third Temple and, instead of the narrow straits of Exile, there will be the broad freedom of Redemption.
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